Albany — Following the dissolution of the African American Cultural Center in Albany, community leaders are working to fill the void with a new vision, the Alice Moore Black Arts and Cultural Center.
An Interim Advisory Committee announced the creation of the new Center on Wednesday. Located at 135 South Pearl Street, they say they plan to expand upon their mission in the South End, adding more projects to develop the community in the future.
They hope it’ll help educate and and promote awareness of African American culture in Albany, as recently, some black businesses owners say they’ve been targeted by vandalism. At the end of September, the owner of the Healthy Soul restaurant said an individual threw what they believed to be a Molotov Cocktail through a window, closing the business for several days.
“If this turns out to be some racially motivated attack, it’s terribly distressing, whatever the reason for it we have full resources to deal with this,” Chief Eric Hawkins says. “The message is these sorts of things won’t be tolerated and the police department is going to use every resource we can to get to the bottom of it.”